Endless Doves
Endless Doves is an infinite game and spin off to 8bit Doves. The game was launched on both mobile systems (iOS and Android) as a free app on November 12, 2014, with a browser release on November 17. In the game, the player controls the flying man as he navigates an endless labyrinth of tunnels trying to collect doves. Controls Endless Doves retains the same controls from 8bit Doves. * Tap left side of the screen - turn up * Tap right side of the screen - turn down For the browser version, the controls are the same as the Nitrome Jam 8bit Doves. * Left arrow key - Tilt left * Right arrow key - Tilt right Gameplay The player controls the flying man as he collect doves, navigating an endless selection of pre-made tunnels while trying to pick up flying creatures. Every time the player dies, the doves they have collected are added to the total number of doves they have accumulated across the entire game. A shop called the Aviary allows the player to purchase other flying creatures with. In-game advertising Endless Doves is funded through interstitial advertisements that are seen in between death and the option to play again. In app purchases The game contains an in app purchase that allows players to remove ads. As Endless Doves will be funded completely through ads, this will likely be the only in app purchase in the game. Development Development of Endless Doves started after development of 8bit Doves was completed1, though the idea of endless version of 8bit Doves was an idea that was considered since the development of the Nitrome Jam version of 8bit Doves. 2 Because many of the game's elements were reused from 8bit Doves, certain areas of development progressed quicker.1 The success of endless games funded through ads, such as Timberman, after the boom of Flappy Bird was seen by Nitrome as a new potential market that was yet to be explored. Endless Doves was created to try out this new funding model and also as an attempt to enter a good quality game into a market seen by Nitrome as being populated by several "sloppy" titles, though Nitrome was hesitant that Endless Doves would not be sloppy itself.3 Nitrome's decision to release Endless Doves for free was primarily to try out this new funding model, though it also was because they felt uncomfortable charging for an 8bit Doves related app when 8bit Doves had been released only a few months prior.1 Endless Dove being endless and comprising of no independent levels was found to work better with this type of funding model instead of the level based progression Nitrome was used to putting in their games.1 The game was completed by October 24th 2014 and had been submitted to the iOS App Store with a release after it had been approved by Apple. 4 On October 28 Nitrome announced on the blog that the game had been submitted to Google Play.5 By November 7 both app stores had accepted Endless Doves.6 Nitrome announced on November 11 2014 that the game would be released on November 12 2014.7 The revenue Nitrome made on Endless Doves exceeded their expectation on what it make.8 Development changes Nitrome teased a picture of the Aviary in a blog post, showing a picture of the page for the chicken. This page shows the chicken as requiring 120 doves to unlock, while in the final versions it was changed to 20. Glitches The launching device seen in the Nitrome Jam version of 8bit Doves is sometimes visible right before the game spawns the launching device, though this can only be seen if the player is effected by lag when the game is loading the launching device. The appearance of the Nitrome Jam 8bit Doves launching device Versions Release versions This version was the version the game was released with. For iOS, it is called Version 1.0, while for Android it is called Version 1.2. Update version This version was released to fix bugs on both iOS and Android. For iOS, it is called Version 1.1 fixes bugs along with "speed improvements", likely referring to fixing lag related bugs. For Android, the update is called Version 1.2.4, and is described as fixing a bug that caused game crashing on Android 5.0 "Lollipop". Along with this, it also fixes a bug that causes crashing on Samsung Galaxy S3 Mini. Version 1.2 (Android) This update was released on Android on December 3 2014 and fixes bugs. Christmas update Released on December 4 2014 for Android and pending release on iOS, this update adds two new Christmas themed entities to the Aviary. Availability on other platforms Although Endless Doves was released for iOS and Android (Google Play), Nitrome has not ruled out an Amazon App Store version.9 Sales On November 13 2014 Endless Doves was at spot 127 in the Free iOS games charts.10 By November 21, 2014 Endless Doves had been played 6 million times11 on both iOS and Android.12 Of those players, 75% (4.5 million) got a score between 0 and 5 doves.13 The amount of revenue Endless Doves brought in exceeded Nitrome's expectations on what they would make.8 Trivia * The level segment that requires the player to fly through several black blocks suspended in mid air is a reference to Tetris. * Although the game takes place in an area with art from the Deep Sleep level pack, the music used is from Sweet Dreams. * Nitrome once considered including unlockable content for the flying man, but withheld it because the character had too many animations to do a practical swap as opposed to the doves. Interchangeable features for the flying man may be reevaluated based on the game's popularity and demand.14